BANGALORE,
AUG. 19.
Mysore may soon get an influx of thousands of young talented people, three times a year, courtesy a different kind of university on its outskirts.

If all goes well, some 12,000 fresh recruits of Infosys Technologies may descend on Mysore every year, where the company is planning its largest training centre at a cost of Rs. 260 crores. Early next year, when this centre opens, "it will have a capacity for training three batches of 4,000 people each" in a year, Nandan Nilekani, Chief Executive Officer, President and Managing Director of Infosys told The Hindu. "It is a fully residential campus," he said. Infosys already has a Leadership Institute at its 200 acre Mysore campus, where specialised courses are run for everyone from fresh recruits to top executives. At present a third of the company's recruits were being trained in Mysore, with the rest in Bangalore, a company spokesperson said.

<167,1p,1>"Now we have one batch of recruits being trained in Mysore. Ultimately, the company plans to train all fresh recruits in this centre. This, of course, will happen gradually," she said. Infosys has a three-and-a-half month `Foundation course,' a modular programme for fresh recruits. The company has recently made this course available to engineering college students under its `Campus Connect.'

Expansion plans

<167,1p,1>Besides the training centre, Infosys planned to expand its business operations in Mysore too, as part of a three track expansion plan in Karnataka, Mr. Nilekani said. "We want to add another 50 acres to our campus in Mysore where we have one of the best IT campuses, and another 25 acres in Mangalore. We are looking for 300 acres in Bangalore for the company's second campus. We want to build a totally world class campus here." Infosys had announced plans to build the second campus nearly 18 months ago. "From an Infosys point of view, the Bangalore-Mangalore-Mysore expansion is what we want to quickly get on with,'' he said.